The story follows a family of inbreeds who have been afflicted by a genetic disorder known as 'Merrye syndrome', named after the family in which the disorder developed. This malady causes its victims to enter a state of age regression that starts at the age of ten and continues throughout the remainder of the person's life, rendering them with the intelligence of a child. The final generation of the family has been entrusted to the care of the family chauffeur (Lon Chaney Jr), and all is well for these odd people until a greedy branch of the family decides that they want to relieve the family of its home. Mental illness has always, and will always be, a fascinating subject for horror movies as it probes into the unknown and Spider Baby makes best use of that fact.
This movie contains 17 potentially triggering events.
A cat is killed (off-screen, but you can hear it yowling). It is then cooked and served for dinner to a group of people who are not aware of what the meat really is.
A male character shows some unwanted interest toward a woman, to the point of peeping in her room and assaulting her. No explicit sexual content is shown on screen, but it is implied.
No, but they talk about mental institutions from the 60s, and the lawyers suggest that the two girls should be taken from their guardian and put in an institution.
People use the r-word as a medical term and talk about cognitive impairment in terms from the 1960s. The lawyers treat the three Merryes with condescension or say they need to be taken from their home and put in an institution. The oldest sibling, Ralph, comes off as a negative caricature of cognitive disabilities.
There is a woman in black lingerie who a man spies on and chases down; a teenage girl sits in the lap of, and flirts with an adult man who she had tied up.
In addition to the mop-up scene, there is another one where some dark splatter is seen on the walls. While it is not explained what it is, it may irk people who are sensitive to gore.